A Republican state lawmaker and outspoken critic of the
University of Wisconsin took aim at a UW economist on Monday for producing
research that disputes the benefits of right-to-work laws.State Sen. Steve Nass sent an email to reporters,
legislators, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank and UW System President Ray
Cross calling a report by UW-Madison and UW-Extension economist Steven Deller
"yet another example of wasted resources" at the university.

Want to know what Republicans really think of a college education?

Nass added that "hiding behind academic freedom to
issue partisan, garbage research is what we have come to expect" at the
UW.Deller's two-page report found that wages -- and
manufacturing wages in particular -- are lower in states with right-to-work
laws, saying they're more symbolic than an actual economic growth policy.Deller called Nass' remarks another "my mind is made
up, don't confuse me with the facts" reaction.

This is a manufactured dust up to justify Walker's proposed stiff cuts to the UW...again.

A UW-Extension paper estimates that workers in
the manufacturing sector earn an average of $8,100 less in states that
have right-to-work laws, and that right-to-work states have more poverty
and fewer college graduates."Bottom line, right-to-work states tend to have lower
manufacturing wages and overall income levels, higher poverty rartes and lower
education levels," reads the UW-Extension right-to-work fact
sheet (the PDF is attached) by Steven Deller, a professor of agricultural
and applied economics."In the end, right-to-work politics are more symbolic
than an actual growth and development policy," reads the short report.
"In and of itself, right-to-work laws really do very little. It's really
more of a signal about how people think about business climate."In right-to-work states, Deller says, economic policies
are geared toward lowering the cost of doing business — cutting taxes,
driving down the cost of labor and limiting regulation. But such policies
also are at odds with promoting high-growth and high-wage industries.The study compared the 22 right-to-work states that
existed prior to 2012 — when both Michigan and Indiana adopted right-to-work laws — with
states that didn't have right-to-work laws.The comparison found that in right-to-work states,
manufacturing jobs paid an average of $52,900, while in non-right-to-work
states, manufacturing workers earned $61,000. Per capita income in
right-to-work states was $3,875 less in right-to-work states, $33,101
versus $36,976.The individual poverty rate in right-to-work states was
nearly 2 percent higher: 13.9 percent versus 12 percent. And the percentage of
people with a college degree was nearly 4 percent lower in right-to-work
states: 24.4 percent versus 28.2 percent.

2 comments:

The doubling-, triping-, and quadrupling-down on education by the Walker administration is transparently part of his Koch masters' wishes: They want a Wisconsin that is as stupid and uninformed as humanly possible to serve as serfs in their multitudinous extraction industries. The good news for the Kochs is that they chose the right state to bleed into dumbfounded submission; few states have a population as deluded and fearful of the educated as this one. The bad news is that their golden boy has already imploded in his presidential aspirations (see Matea Gold's article in the WaPo today) and that the Kochs have had to bail before they bet too many of their billions on a bad horse. On the other hand, Walker has successfully delivered Wisconsin on a golden platter, a state where people are gullible, easily led, hate the educated, and are willing to fight themselves tooth and nail for the most insulting, menial working conditions possible.

It will almost be a Shakespearean comedy in the next few years to watch the differences between well-educated, well-off Minnesota--which will continue to thrive and grow--and its stunted cousin to the east, which is rapidly turning into the dumbest and most disgraceful excuse for a state in the USA. And with no one to blame but itself.

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I was once a liberal radio talk host. Played co-host to Vicki McKenna, a complete liar who can't can't stop filling the airwaves with mindless babble.
I'm someone who enjoys the the painful smiles of conservatives as they struggle to deny the avalanche of facts tumbling their way. They seem preoccupied with spelling and grammar.
Real Estate: I also hosted a real estate radio show.
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